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I spent two decades training, hiring and evaluating hundreds of people for investment and entrepreneurial roles. I found 3 types of people to study: “Good”, “Dangerous” and “Nuisance”. Thanks to @patrick_oshag @mjmauboussin @tseides for our discussions over the years: (1/10)
“Dangerous” have some of these traits:
- Easily attracted to obvious, sucker bets. Loves following the herd
- Intellectually dishonest: can’t admit mistakes or change mind with contradictory facts
- Relies excessively on gut feel
- Confuses process and outcome
Continued...(2/10)
- Easily attracted to obvious, sucker bets. Loves following the herd
- Intellectually dishonest: can’t admit mistakes or change mind with contradictory facts
- Relies excessively on gut feel
- Confuses process and outcome
Continued...(2/10)
“Dangerous” traits (continued):
- Overconfident and misplaced convictions
- Confuses facts with opinions
- Lack of detail orientation - too big picture
- Signs of recklessness in their personal life - lack of discipline and impulse control *** Big one!
Continued...(3/10)
- Overconfident and misplaced convictions
- Confuses facts with opinions
- Lack of detail orientation - too big picture
- Signs of recklessness in their personal life - lack of discipline and impulse control *** Big one!
Continued...(3/10)
“Dangerous” traits (continued):
- Impervious to pain from big losses and big errors. No deep introspection and natural post-mortems
- “Rotten Apple” potential:!complainer and cancerous to your culture
These people pose severe risk to your business. Continued... (4/10)
- Impervious to pain from big losses and big errors. No deep introspection and natural post-mortems
- “Rotten Apple” potential:!complainer and cancerous to your culture
These people pose severe risk to your business. Continued... (4/10)
“Nuisance” are less dangerous, but insidious. Some traits:
- Annoying, neurotic and whiny
- Lack of ideas / low idea velocity
- Poor communication skills, weak conviction
- Cowardice in the face of adversity
- Dwells on failure and always backward looking
Continued... (5/10)
- Annoying, neurotic and whiny
- Lack of ideas / low idea velocity
- Poor communication skills, weak conviction
- Cowardice in the face of adversity
- Dwells on failure and always backward looking
Continued... (5/10)
“Nuisance” traits continued:
- No accountability. Blames everyone but themselves
- Not proactive. Requires excessive “pull”
- Heavy management requirements with low yield
These people pose lower risk to your business, but create large opportunity cost. Continued... (6/10)
- No accountability. Blames everyone but themselves
- Not proactive. Requires excessive “pull”
- Heavy management requirements with low yield
These people pose lower risk to your business, but create large opportunity cost. Continued... (6/10)
“Good” traits I have observed:
- Intellectually honest: willingness to change mind easily
- Likes to engage in deliberate practice
- Practical-minded obsession with possibility and consequence of failure
- Ambition with overachievement and tenacity (grit)
Continued... (7/10)
- Intellectually honest: willingness to change mind easily
- Likes to engage in deliberate practice
- Practical-minded obsession with possibility and consequence of failure
- Ambition with overachievement and tenacity (grit)
Continued... (7/10)
“Good” traits continued:
- Competitive with freakish desire to win
- Appetite for self-improvement and deep introspection
- Creates post-mortems as feedback loop to learn from mistakes
- Meets failure with optimism to overcome; true accountability
Continued... (8/10)
- Competitive with freakish desire to win
- Appetite for self-improvement and deep introspection
- Creates post-mortems as feedback loop to learn from mistakes
- Meets failure with optimism to overcome; true accountability
Continued... (8/10)
“Good” traits continued:
- understands difference between Art vs Science.
- High EQ and interpersonal skills
- Ability to resist impulses and delay gratification. No fear in saying “No”
- Disciplined risk-taking in life with evidence of willpower
Continued... (9/10)
- understands difference between Art vs Science.
- High EQ and interpersonal skills
- Ability to resist impulses and delay gratification. No fear in saying “No”
- Disciplined risk-taking in life with evidence of willpower
Continued... (9/10)
“Good” people have extreme optionality and huge positive convexity with a long tail. These are the most asymmetric investments you can make in life. If you discover these people, protect and nurture them like family. (10/10)
